one of the Sandwich group. 3 

 lose much of their precipitous and denticulated form, and be- 

 come more spread out into rounded hills and elevated plains, 

 corresponding to the increased breadth of the island. The ge- 

 neral direction of this chain is north 35° west. The average 

 height of the chain from that of a point that I measured on the 

 north-west declivity of Ronahuanui, which seemed to be on a 

 level with the general ridge, extending to the north-west, is 

 1638 English feet above the level of the sea. But the north- 

 east and south-west declivities are very different in form and ex- 

 tent. The centre of the chain is only from two to three miles 

 distant from the north-east coast, and does not descend to it by 

 a gradual declivity but abruptly, forming one tremendous line 

 of precipices from Ronahuanui to Kualoa, the steep rocky face 

 being only interrupted by a few projecting buttresses, often pro- 

 ceeding from the chain in a semicircular concentric form, en- 

 closing deep pit-shaped ravines, open towards the sea. At the 

 base of the pari or precipice of Anwanu, the soil is elevated 

 530 feet above the sea. The narrow plain between the preci- 

 pices and the sea is diversified with hillocks, water-courses, and 

 undulating plains. On the other hand, the central chain is from 

 six to nine miles distant from the sea-shore on the south-west 

 side. The descent on this side is gradual by valleys of greater 

 or less extent, separated from each other by very regular lateral 

 chains or ridges. Few precipices are seen on this side, and none 

 of any magnitude except at the head of the valleys in the circus, 

 which usually terminates them. Hence the mountains have, 

 when viewed from this side, none of that grand and imposing 

 appearance that they have when viewed from the other, and are 

 most accessible on this side. Time did not permit of my as- 

 cending the summits of any of the peaks of this chain. 



The westernmost mass of mountains, to which may be given 

 the name of the mountains of Raala, from that of their highest 

 summit, extends somewhat in the form of a semicircle or amphi- 

 theatre, from the point of Raena on the north-west, to that of 

 Laaola on the south-east, enclosing and separating from the rest 

 of the island the district of Wainae, extending along the sea- 

 shore between these two points. In general outline, this is much 

 more regular than the chain of Ronahuanui, for although it pre- 

 sents the same needle-shaped peaks and intervening precipices, 



A 2 



